


it's half your fault, so half forgive me

by transtlanticism



Category: Project Nemesis Series - Brendan Reichs
Genre: F/M, It's not graphic I promise, Mentions of Sexual Assault, also there is a death but i wouldn't consider it major character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28682112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transtlanticism/pseuds/transtlanticism
Summary: The Wilds AU.A field trip leads to disaster when nine Fire Lake students are stranded on an island. Despite their wildly conflicting personalities, they have one goal: survive. But there's something deeper at play, and someone is hiding something.
Relationships: Derrick Morris/Casey Beam, Thomas "Tack" Russo/Min Wilder
Kudos: 2





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> i really feel like this is just kind of nemesis but reversed? like instead of turning them against each other they all have to work together. also leah reminded me of min but way more fucked up so i had to do this

MIN

I blink.

Blink twice. Once more for good measure. There’s sand in my eyes. My body feels battered, sore. I’m soaking wet.

I don’t want to move. I’m terrified. But one thought spurs me into action. _Tack._

And then I remember. Slowly, like wading through a current. _The plane. The turbulence._

My head is pounding. I slowly sit up and wipe my eyes with saltwater hands, blinking again through the glare of blinding sunlight.

I’m sitting on a beach, alone. The ocean is littered with debris. Far out, I see the bright pink splotch of…a suitcase?

Sarah’s _fucking obnoxious pink suitcase._

I finally put the pieces together in my head. The engine cut. The plane crashed.

Somehow I’m here.

_Where is Tack?_

I stand up quickly, bracing myself against a dizzying head rush. Scan the beach. There are backpacks strewn across it. The sunlight catches on metal buried loosely somewhere in the sand. A flash of blonde hair.

“Casey!” I yell. My voice is hoarse, but I gather my energy and sprint towards her. She’s slumped in the sand, her typical ponytail having long come undone. I turn her over, checking for breathing. “Casey?”

She grumbles something under her breath.

“Casey,” I say urgently. “It’s Min. Wake up. You have to wake up.”

“Huh?”

“Casey!” I lift my head, still scanning the beach for any sign of other people. I can’t see anything past the glaring sunlight. “Please!”

She finally cracks an eye to stare at me. “Min?” she asks weakly. “What…Did we…”

“Crashed,” I confirm grimly.

She gets up so fast I’m shocked she doesn’t fall over, assessing everything with lightning speed. “Fuck,” she says. “Jesus Christ. Have you found anyone else?”

“No. I woke up right over there.”

With zero warning, she breaks into a sprint. Cursing everything in my life, I drag my weak muscles after her.

If Casey’s the only other person alive, I am so screwed.

…

TACK

I’m in the water.

I know I’m in the water, because I fucking hate the water. Always have. I don’t mind being cold, but I despise being wet. So fuck whatever situation I’m in already. I can’t remember how I got here, but I’m ready to get mad whenever.

Also, I’m not totally in the water. My back is dry, so I’m sprawled on…

Metal? Definitely metal.

Water laps into my mouth and I open my eyes. I can’t see anything but ocean. For a brief moment, I wonder if I’m in hell.

Upon further stock of my surroundings, I’m lying on…the wing of a plane?

_Oh, motherfucker._

But my concern for myself is a passing ship. If I survived the initial crash, I’ll figure my damn self out. My real worry is…

“MIN!” I scream, pushing my voice louder than I’ve ever managed to in my life. “MIN! _MIN!”_

A shout from somewhere further away. Deep, male. Definitely not Min. “Hey!”

I ignore them. “MIN? WHERE ARE YOU? MIN!”

“I think that’s Tack!” the voice shouts. “Tack, can you hear me? It’s Noah!”

Okay. I’m definitely in hell. If Noah Livingston survived and Min didn’t, I’m going to kill him with my bare hands.

Splashing to my left. I reluctantly crane my neck. Noah’s somehow managed to wrangle an inflated emergency life vest. Behind him, Hector Quino is clinging to a seat cushion. Both are otherwise completely adrift, though Hector has his backpack on. He spots me and starts frantically waving.

“There he is!” Noah shouts. “Tack, I’m coming.”

“Don’t bother,” I mutter. Think I’d rather drown out here. But something more important is plaguing me. “Have you seen Min?”

Noah finally reaches the wing and extends a hand. “No,” he says heavily. “Hector and I have been floating around here for like fifteen minutes. We think we see land, though, so we’re heading for that.”

I bite back the pain. _If Min survived, she’ll be heading for land, too._ “Okay,” I say. “Let’s go.”

Noah helps me into the water, and Hector guides half of the seat cushion under me. “Don’t want to get caught out here without a lifeline,” he says, smiling wanly. “When we get to land, everything will be okay.”

_Sure._ But I actually like Hector, so I nod at him and focus on kicking towards the shadow in the distance.

Hoping against hope that somewhere out there, Min is doing the same thing.

…

SARAH

I can’t believe my last thought, plummeting to my potential death, was about my phone. Yeah, it’s new. Yeah, it’s not in a waterproof case, because I figured I could do that when we land.

But also, I feel like a bit of a heartless dick. Because my second-to-last thought was about Alice. And my second thought upon waking up.

No one’s around, but I don’t need anyone to be. I can figure this out for myself. Our plane crashed. I somehow washed up in a grove of shady trees near the beach. I’m currently the only known survivor. And no, I don’t have my phone. Fuck my life.

Or…no. Maybe I’m not the only one around. Somewhere offshore, two figures are bobbing in the surf. One of them seems to be supporting the other.

“This is a nightmare, huh?”

I jump. It’s not easy for someone to catch me off guard. But when I turn around, Piper Lockwood, coal-black hair tied in a braid, is sitting in a tree behind me. “Wanted to make sure you weren’t dead,” she explains.

That irks me. “Why don’t you do something useful and make sure whoever’s being dragged through the water out there isn’t dead?” I snap. “I’m fine.”

“Whatever, Sarah.” She pushes herself off the low branch, lands lightly on the ground, and sprints down to the shoreline. Now that they’re closer, I can vaguely see a glint of red hair. There’s only one person with red hair on this trip. And she’s propelling a seemingly unconscious Derrick Morris to shore.

“Derrick!” Piper yells, charging into the water. “Is he dead?”

Rose grunts and shoves the body towards Piper. “No. I would have left him out there if he was.”

I’m not paying attention, doing the mental math. If Rose Valenti is alive…that makes four so far, out of nine people on that plane. Who’s missing? _Tack Russo, Hector Quino, Casey Beam, Noah Livingston…_

“MIN!” someone bellows.

Yeah. That. But on the plus side…ish, Tack’s no longer missing. I stand up and coax my wobbly leg muscles out to join the others on the beach.

To the right, a short, slender figure is frantically pushing for land, clinging to a seat cushion. Next to him, Hector looks relieved. Noah drifts somewhere behind them.

Piper sets Derrick down on the sand and wades out to help Tack and Hector to shore. “Where’s Min?” Tack demands frantically.

Piper looks helplessly at Rose, who shrugs. “I didn’t see her out there.”

Tack looks crestfallen as he and Hector straggle out of the water. Noah arrives a matter of seconds after them, avoiding my eyes and heading straight for Derrick. “Is he alive?” he demands.

“Last I checked,” Rose says. “That dude is heavy.”

“Watch him,” I instruct Noah. “The rest of us need to look for Min and Casey.”

At the sound of Min’s name, Tack straightens. “Should we split up?” he says. “Go back in the water? I’m not stopping until I find—”

Inaudible shouting from around the bend of the beach.

“MIN!” Tack yells.

When there’s no response Tack takes off towards the noise. I don’t know how he moves that fast in wet jeans, but the rest of us are on his tail in a heartbeat. Even Noah leaves Derrick on the sand to chase him.

Casey rounds the bend, clearly going at full speed. “Holy shit,” she pants. “Looks like we’re late to the party.”

Tack’s face brightens. “We?”

…

MIN

Voices on the other side of the rocks. I can’t keep up with fucking Casey anymore. Until I hear my name.

With renewed energy, I burst forward, following Casey around the rocks. Running directly into Tack.

_Tack._

“Min,” he chokes, and hugs me so tightly I can’t breathe. Not that I want to. I’m too busy hugging him back.

When he releases me, I quickly count heads over his shoulder. Everyone’s present and relatively unharmed. Sarah seems to have a relatively superficial slash on her leg, and Derrick is slowly waking up still, and we’re all soaking wet and dirt-smeared, but we’re alive.

“No sign of the pilot?” Rose asks. There’s no answer.

Sarah pushes back her hair. “If he hasn’t shown up by now, I don’t think he will.”

“You don’t know that,” Noah says.

Sarah gives him a freezing look. “Fine. Let me know when he turns up.”

We stand there for a moment, looking awkwardly at each other. I’m acutely aware that, besides Hector, who gets along with everybody, not one single person in this circle gives a flying fuck about me or Tack. I just have to hope they don’t want our deaths on their hands.

Beside me, Tack is sizing up Sarah. I can guess what he’s thinking: she’s getting ready to take over however she can. But looking at Rose, the transfer student from Wyoming, I’m not so sure. From what I know of her, she’s volatile, known for picking fights in the halls. She gets a pass from gym for taking some kind of martial arts class, something I’ve never seen any other Fire Lake kid get away with. She’s clearly influential. But I wonder how well that will work in a group containing a few more unpredictable, authority-defying Fire Lake students.

I cast Tack an uneasy look as the tension in the circle grows more and more palpable. _Someone needs to make a decision._

_No one is going to listen to me._

I’m saved from having to come up with something when Noah steps forward. “Why don’t we first gather up everything we can find on the beach,” he suggests. “Anything you see floating around, and put it in a pile. We can go through it and determine what supplies we have.”

“That’s stupid,” Casey says. “Let’s start with, does anyone have a fucking _phone_?”

Sarah scowls. I’m guessing hers is somewhere with mine, waterlogged at the bottom of the ocean. I watch hands check pockets. Rose yanks hers out, shakes it, presses the button. The screen flickers, then dies. She hurls it at the ground. “Useless.”

Everyone else is empty-handed. “Mine was in my suitcase,” Hector volunteers. “Which is, uh…well. It’s red. If anyone sees it. The suitcase, not the phone. Although the phone is also red.”

“If it was fabric, it’s gone,” Tack says. “Sorry, dude.”

“Mine wasn’t,” Sarah says suddenly. “My laptop was in my bag. Maybe it’ll wash up.”

Rose snorts. “Good luck with that. You don’t get Wi-Fi out here.”

The circle falls silent again. No one knows what to do.

“Look,” Derrick finally says, sounding worn. “Let’s just go through whatever shit we have. The sun is starting to set. We just need to figure out what we’ve got so we know what we need tomorrow morning.”

“I know what we need,” Piper mutters. “A fucking plane out of here.”

“Okay,” I finally say. “Tack and I will start digging through the stuff. The rest of you guys, search the beach, search the water, look everywhere you can find. Anything will help.”

Stares from everyone. I don’t think anyone actually expected me to say anything, let alone start ordering people around. I suddenly regret opening my mouth.

“That sounds good,” Noah says suddenly. Everyone turns to look at him incredulously. “I’ll help Min with the sorting.”

“Maybe I should stick around, too. Make sure they don’t steal anything,” Rose says.

Tack hisses slightly under his breath, but I grab his arm. “Fine. Everyone else, go look for shit.”

With some grumbling, the group disperses. I look into Rose’s unfriendly eyes, then Noah’s too-friendly ones. Both of them are putting on a show. I just can’t tell exactly what it is.

This is going to suck.

…

ROSE

The only reason I volunteered to work with the trailer-park kids is that my knee fucking hurts. If that damn plane crash fucked it up for good, I’m going to let someone have it. I need my knee working. I’m not actually worried Min and Thumbtack are going to steal shit from us. Where would they even keep it?

I’m also not thrilled about working with Noah. He’s just…creepy.

Tack gathers the bags and supplies we’ve already dragged to this section of the beach. The kid can’t lift things for shit. Zero muscles. After watching him struggle for three minutes, I have to fight the urge to get up and do it my damn self. _Focus on the knee, Rose. Learn some patience._

I’m not so good at the patience thing.

It’s my fault I’m here. I just had to mouth off to Xander and Adrien. And then they yelled back. And then I decked them. Left them with bloody noses behind the gym.

That was the last straw for the principal. It was either get a long enough suspension that I’d have to repeat a grade or get out.

So my parents packed it up and moved to Idaho. For me.

I hate myself for it. I hate myself for ruining my relationship with Gray. My first serious boyfriend, and I got myself kicked out of school. He loved me anyway, but he couldn’t do a long-distance relationship.

I miss him. I miss Miggy, too. He’s found new friends, though—his last update before I got on the plane was of him eating lunch with Parisa, Jerica, and fucking Cyrus. He hasn’t texted me in a month.

I’m sure we’ll be on the news. Maybe he’ll feel guilty, the dick. Or just milk my alleged death for more face time with Jerica. He always liked her, anyway.

“Jesus,” Tack says, flinging a lacy thong at me like a slingshot. “This you, Valenti? Pink kind of clashes with your hair, doesn’t it?”

My cheeks flame. “Piss off. That’s not mine.”

“You’re right.” Tack holds up a hoodie with LOCKWOOD printed on the back. “Piper’s got spicy taste in underwear. You’d never know with all the smiley faces on her boots. Although this might be more your taste,” he says, holding up a flowery green bra.

Min smacks it out of his hand. “Enough. Put that back in there. We count the essentials, not Piper’s lingerie.”

I watch with interest as Tack actually listens to her. _Huh._ I’d never paid much attention to their dynamic. It’s shocking that someone’s actually able to wrangle that kid.

Min glances up to see me looking at her. “What, Rose? I’m not stealing things. Believe me, I have no interest in Piper’s stuff.”

I sneer at her. “Just wondering if you cut your own hair, or if you got a blind person to do it for you.”

Her face flushes and she looks back down at the suitcase, silently counting tampons.

For a moment, I almost feel bad. But then I remember it’s Min.

…

PIPER

“Are they going through my fucking underwear?” I demand, dropping the bag I’m dragging out of the water.

Derrick snorts as Tack throws a pair of my underwear at Rose. “Piper, cool it. They’re going to be digging through all our shit.”

I glare fruitlessly in Tack’s direction. This is the worst fucking day of my life.

It isn’t, actually. But I just survived a plane crash. I’m allowed to be a little dramatic.

“Here.” Derrick grunts as he hauls a backpack out of the water. “Give this to them.”

“Sure.” I sling it over my shoulder and scan the horizon. “You see anything else?”

“Nah. I got Sarah searching around the bend, but I think this is the last of it.” Derrick brushes seawater off his hands. “Christ. I guess my stuff is gone, then. That’s annoying.”

“Did we ever pull in Sarah’s suitcase?” I ask. “It was that bright pink one, right? She said something earlier about it being able to float.”

Derrick shrugs. “I didn’t get it. Maybe Sarah did.”

But Sarah rounds the corner then, soaking wet and shaking her head. “Nothing on that side. I even dove in to have a look, but there’s nothing at the bottom anywhere nearby.”

“Well, you went above and beyond,” Derrick says. “Come on. Let’s get this stuff over to the group. And grab Hector’s backpack.”

We group around our haul. It’s not much, especially in the way of medication—a pack of Midol, four Advils, and a bottle of Benadryl gel. A decent amount in the way of snacks and MREs.

Sarah frowns at the last one. “Since when do airplanes carry MREs? Last I heard, they aren’t even allowed on some flights, right?”

Tack looks uncomfortable. Min’s staring at the ground. I’m going to guess neither of them has been on a plane before this. Looking around at the group, I can make a pretty good guess that everyone else has at least once. I feel bad for them a lot of the time—they were ostracized before we even got the chance to know them. Not that I have a lot of interest in getting to know Tack, he’s a psychopath, but Min seems okay.

This trip is really turning out to be the opposite of what I had hoped. After…

Well. After January, I didn’t want to hang out with my old crowd anymore. This was supposed to be my chance to spend some time away from Fire Lake people. Get myself together. I’m tired of being a disaster.

No one would know. I draw smiley faces in my notebooks. I keep up the perfect Piper Lockwood façade. I never said a word to anyone. Because I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to forget it ever happened.

I wish it had never fucking happened.

“The good news is, bottled water is still washing up,” Sarah says. I realize I’ve been tuning out and quickly snap to attention. “But that won’t last more than a week. We need to find a water source, and we need to start looking tomorrow. Birds live on this island, people, which means there is water somewhere.”

“Hold on,” I say. “There are probably people looking for us right now. We won’t be here a week. We most likely won’t be here another five hours.”

“We can’t count on that, Piper,” Sarah says, and there’s a bite to her voice. “I don’t know about you, but my main priority is surviving long enough for us to get rescued.”

“She’s right,” Noah says quietly. “We need to find water, and we need to build shelter.”

Tack squints at the sky. “It’s pretty fucking dark out. I don’t really want to be forest creature chow, so unless one of you feels like blindly wandering into the woods for fucking leaves or sticks or whatever, I’d take a rain check on that shelter-building bonding activity.”

“As much as I hate to agree with Tack…” Rose’s eyes roll skyward. “I agree with Tack. Let’s just figure out a sleep situation.”

Min starts handing out sweaters and jackets from various suitcases. She smiles slightly at me before passing me my old red softball hoodie, my last name printed in yellow letters on the back. “Thought you might not want other people wearing this,” she says.

It’s an unexpectedly sweet gesture. “Thanks,” I say.

We all settle in our own places for the night. I see Sarah disappear into that little grove I first found her in. Noah sprawls in the middle of the beach, Derrick twenty feet away. Min and Tack find a spot near the edge of the beach together and lie down, backpacks under their heads. As the wind kicks up, Min shivers, and Tack pulls her closer in. Min tucks her head against his chest.

Huh. I don’t _think_ they’re dating, but I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if that changed soon.

In any case, everyone else has found their own spot to sleep. I pull the strings of my hoodie tighter and rest my head on my elbow, trying to get comfortable in my sand nest.

Sleep doesn’t come for hours.


	2. Day 2

CASEY

My head fucking itches. I picked the grassiest spot I possibly could. I’m used to napping on the side of soccer fields, but none of them get sand in my hair.

My waterproof watch says it’s 6:30 AM. Predictably, no one else is awake. I’m starving, and I don’t know what the food rationing situation is, so I guess I have to wait for everyone else to wake up.

First things first. I need a fucking hairbrush, and since my luggage didn’t magically wash ashore, I’m going to have to go through someone else’s stuff. Piper’s expensive blue suitcase protected her stuff from being waterlogged, and while I’m not going near her toothbrush—I’m going to have to be stranded her a lot longer before I hit that level of rock bottom—she has hair elastics and a brush. When I finish unsnarling the strands, I pull them out of the brush. I’m not that much of a dick.

Not anymore, anyway.

I’m saved from thinking about how much of a dick I am by stirring a few feet away. Derrick grumbles a few swear words under his breath. “I was really hoping yesterday was a nightmare,” he groans. “I’ve never missed my own bed so much.”

“Hard same.” I kick my sneakers off and walk down to the waterline, crouching and scooping seawater into my mouth. Swish and spit, running my tongue over my teeth. Nope, still gross. Maybe it’s time to rethink that toothbrush problem. I flop down next to Derrick and sigh. “You get any sleep at all?”

“Yeah, some. My neck fucking hurts, though.”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Hector, facing sunward, eyes closed, speaking quietly to himself. Praying, probably. I feel a pang of sadness. Hector’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He doesn’t deserve to be here.

I do, though. I deserve every ass-kicking, arm-twisting minute of this. I probably should have died in that crash, but maybe my suffering here will be worse.

Right now, one of my soccer photos is probably up on the local news. Lauren and Dakota will see it. See I’m missing, probably dead.

I don’t know what Dakota thinks, but I know what I’d think: _Good._

Everyone rouses fairly quickly after Hector. Sarah somehow emerges from the trees looking almost perfect, that bitch. Her hair is a little flat, but aside from that, she pulls off the scavenged clothes look impossibly well. Min and Tack are trainwrecks, as usual, but at least they’re alert. Tack joins the circle, chugging a bottle of water and muttering something about coffee.

“Okay,” Sarah says, once Noah finally joins the circle. “First order of business is water. Nonnegotiable.”

“Um, excuse me, lady dictator?” Tack calls. “First order of business is, I haven’t eaten since I downed a tiny bag of peanuts in the sky. When’s breakfast?”

Sarah glares daggers, but Noah nods. “First rations should go out now. Everyone go grab an MRE. We’re keeping track, so anyone going into the woods today who needs to bring along an extra needs to check in first.”

Tack glances incredulously between Noah and Sarah. “I’m sorry, but who the hell put you two in charge?”

“Hey,” Hector says mildly. “We don’t need to…”

“Exactly what good ideas do you have to contribute?” Sarah asks coldly. “The last decision I remember you making was pissing off your father so much that he left a giant—”

Tack lunges. Min barely manages to grab his arm before it swings, but Sarah delicately steps backward. Min struggles to hold Tack back, talking quietly in his ear. After a minute, Tack stops fighting but keeps a deeply hurt glare trained on Sarah.

“Moving on,” Sarah says primly, fully ignoring Tack now as Noah looks uneasy. (I also feel uneasy, but I know better than to show that in front of Sarah.) “Once food is out of the way, we need to find water. Rose, Hector, Casey, you guys search the west side, and, uh…Noah, take Piper and search the east side.” She surveys the people who are left. “Min and Derrick, I need you guys to get a handle on our location. Get to the top of the mountain. Look for any landmarks, anything at all.”

“And what’s your job?” Rose asks crabbily. “To sit on your ass and eat Hot Cheetos all day? Because I’m not super on board with that part of the plan.”

Sarah rolls right over her. “Tack, stay here with me. You and I are going to get some shelters built.”

Tack looks uneasily at Min. “Any chance I can swap out with a different group? Casey, wanna trade with me?”

Haha. “Nope.”

“Derrick?”

Derrick glances at Sarah. “No thanks.”

“Enough,” Sarah snaps. “Get your food and get going.”

…

ROSE

I think of all the people that could have been chosen to search for water with me, Hector Quino and Casey Beam have got to be the strangest. I’ve never directly spoken to either of them. Casey seems like a stuck-up, perpetually bossy athlete, and all I know about Hector is that he’s super religious. Jack shit else. But he’s quiet while we walk, so that’s a point in his favour.

My knee twinges and I stumble over a rock. “Ow. Fuck.”

Casey, at least ten paces ahead of me with a giant walking stick in her hand like she’s fucking Tropical Dumbledore, stops and glances at me impatiently. “You good, Rose? We don’t have all day.”

“We technically do,” Hector points out. “It’s just that this might _take_ all day.”

Okay, point taken away. I do not like this kid.

“I’m working on it,” I say through gritted teeth, and tentatively put weight on the knee. Aches a bit, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Hector looks concerned, though, and that annoys me more, so I stride past him, and he dutifully picks up the tail.

I don’t know why I came on this fucking trip. I didn’t want to go.

I do know why, actually. Because Chrys and David Valenti were worried about their daughter. Because they thought this was a fantastic opportunity. My name got picked out of everyone in the grade, and a two-week retreat to the Galápagos was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So many people in the world wanted to go, they assured me, and weren’t able to. You had to get special permits…

They had made it sound incredible.

Look at me now. Discarded from a plane I should have died in, trudging through the woods behind the blonde soccer freak, slapping mosquitos from my shoulder. If Hector’s right about higher powers, they’re all having a good laugh at me right now.

There goes my knee again. This time, it buckles, and I trip straight into the dirt, pain shooting up my leg. “Motherfucker!”

Casey stops for real and sets down her stick, kneeling next to me. “Rose. What’s wrong?”

“Her leg,” Hector says, crouching to get a look at it. “Your knee looks swollen, Rose. Did you injure this yesterday?”

Casey shakes her head. “She can’t be hiking through the woods on that leg. I’m sorry I got impatient. Knee injuries are no joke.”

I bite back sharp retorts. “I don’t know. I just…I’m fine. I’ll head back by myself.”

Casey bites her lip. “I’m not sure it’s safe to be walking around alone out here. Buddy system and all that…”

“It’s, like, a five-minute walk back to the beach,” I say irritably. “I think I’ll live.”

Hector glances anxiously at Casey.

“Don’t treat me like an invalid,” I warn. “I’m fine. I just need to rest it.”

“Okay.” Casey surrenders. “Yell if anything goes wrong.”

_I’m aware of how yelling for help works._ “Uh huh.”

So my knee’s officially a mess and I’ve been sidelined. Today’s shaping up to be fucking fantastic.

…

DERRICK

Min takes the lead as we walk, winding our way up the island peak. She’s more agile than I realized. I can sprint down a basketball court, no problem, but long, uphill hikes aren’t really my thing. She doesn’t look like she has much muscle, she’s so deceivingly skinny.

“So, uh,” I say. “You miss school?”

Min snorts. “Let’s see…being totally isolated, constantly on the lookout for an attack, not knowing when or if you’re ever going to be out of the hellish situation…I think I’d rather be here, thanks.”

I blink.

“That was a joke,” she clarifies.

“Yeah, no, I got it. I just didn’t…I’ve never heard you make a joke before.”

She shrugs and brushes a strand of short black hair from her eyes. “I don’t think you’ve ever listened to me talk before.”

Girl’s got a point.

Girl also keeps staring at the ground while she walks. “Whatcha looking for? Drop an earring?”

Min turns to look at me, blank-faced.

“I can make a joke too.”

Her mouth twitches into a hint of a smile. “I’m actually looking for animal tracks,” she explains. “Any hint that we have some sort of food source. I’m sure Sarah will get a team on that, or whatever, but it would be nice to know what we’re looking for.”

Her tone’s not hard to read. “Not a fan of Sarah taking over, huh? She is a little totalitarian.”

Her mouth twitches again, and she presses her lips together. “I’m surprised you know that word. I didn’t see you in AP Gov last semester.”

“Too busy with basketball. Doesn’t mean I don’t read.”

“Then I stand corrected,” Min says. “It’s good to have someone smart here. Not that Sarah isn’t, she just…”

“Uses her powers for evil?” I suggest.

Min smiles. I’ve never actually seen her smile before. It’s pretty. “Something like that.”

I wonder idly why she’s on this trip. Maybe she just jumped at the opportunity to travel somewhere. It must be nice for her that she and her best friend both got picked. Or was, before everything went to hell. But at least she and Tack don’t have to be out of their minds with worry for each other.

I should have fucking stayed home to practice with the team. I came on this trip for the dumbest conceivable reason, and now I’m paying the price for it.

At least I don’t have to be out of my mind with worry, either. The person I care about barely knows I exist, but at least she’s here.

…

NOAH

Responsibility is crushing.

I’m so glad I’m not back home right now. We left the basketball team a disaster without two members. Derrick was complaining earlier that “By this point, Coach will be scouting replacements for our supposedly dead asses. We might as well be mannequins. He’ll probably rob our houses for our jerseys back.”

I tend to disagree. But that’s just my opinion.

At the same time, I regret signing up for this fucking trip. I don’t really give a shit about Piper Lockwood, but I have to deal with her all day. Or at least until we find water. Or, more likely, until we get off this hellhole island.

Around noon, Piper stops for a water break. After drinking for a minute, she undoes her braid and immediately starts redoing it.

“What is the point of that?” I demand.

She gives me a scathing look. “What does it matter to you? Go ahead, if you’re in such a hurry. I’ll catch up.”

Yeah, I’m not gonna do that. So I lean against a tree while I wait for her to finish doing her hair.

This was supposed to be an opportunity. A break from my life. Just to fucking get out of my head for a couple of weeks. Instead, I’m fishing luggage out of the ocean. Trekking through the forest to hunt down sustenance. Listening to Sarah bark orders left and right. It’s almost enough to make me miss basketball.

_Who does she think she is, anyway?_

She’s too well-prepared for this shit. I don’t like how calm she is. It’s fucking weird.

Piper finally finishes tying up her braid and gestures forward. “After you, Adventurer Supreme. Set the pace.”

“Fine.”

Twenty minutes pass—at this point, I’m so bored, I think I’d rather be swimming home—before Piper yells. “Hey, check it out!”

I squint at what she’s pointing to. “A…puddle?”

“Yes!” Piper sprints forward and scoops some of the water out, sniffing it. “This is definitely freshwater, Noah!”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “That’s great, Piper. How long do you think a muddy forest puddle is going to sustain nine of us?”

She tosses her braid and glares at me. “I’m not suggesting we drink from this, dumbass. Where there’s mud, there’s water.”

I wait as she closes her eyes.

“Let me save you time,” I finally say after a full minute. “I don’t hear running water. I think this is just rain. Look—it’s in a shadowed area. The sun probably just hasn’t evaporated it yet.”

“You don’t know shit, Noah!” Piper snaps. “So stop acting like you’re in charge, because you’re stranded on this fucking island, just like everybody else. When was the last time you had to survive in the wilderness by yourself? When was the last time you even went _camping,_ you dick? Why don’t you just shut up and look for water, because that’s your fucking _job._ You asshole.”

I probably am being an asshole. “You’re right,” I admit. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I know.”

If I cut off her braid in her sleep, would everyone else find it funny, too? “Okay. So which way should we be going?”

Piper shrugs. “Water runs downhill, but…it also has to have a source. So we just have to stay in the wettest area until we find something.”

I may not know shit, but I suspect she doesn’t either. Nevertheless, I shut up and follow her deeper into the woods, praying we’re not getting ourselves hopelessly lost.

…

SARAH

Alice has been taking an architecture class. I sat by her one afternoon while she was sketching out emergency wilderness shelters.

_“This is part of your class?” I asked. “What’s architectural about that?”_

_She smiled at me. “It’s just foundational stuff. Understanding why things stay upright. I’m not really interested in architecture, I just want the drawing practice.”_ _I put an arm around her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her. “Like you need it,” I said. “You’re the best artist I’ve ever met.”_

_She laughed against my mouth. “Liar.”_

_“Nope. And the prettiest, and the smartest…”_

_“You’d leave me for Frida Khalo if you could,” Alice accused, giggling._

_“No, that’s you. I’m not into the monobrow thing.”_

_“It’s a feminist—”_

_“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I kissed her again. She had green apples on her breath, and her lips were slightly rough, like she’d been biting the skin…_

Alice isn’t here, and I am. I have to do this without her. My only reinforcement currently wandering out of the woods, totally empty-handed…

Wait, that’s not Tack. “Rose, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Busted knee,” she mutters, slumping down on a large piece of driftwood. “Do we have anti-inflammatories?”

I glare at her. “We literally have four Advil. Why are you doing this to me?”

“Yeah, I really want to be stuck here with you right now. Casey and Hector kicked me out. I was slowing them down too much.” Rose takes one of the Advil and downs it with water. “That’s literally all I needed. And to let this heal.”

I want to kick her in the knee, but we really can’t afford to have a limp dishrag hanging around. “Fine,” I growl. “Don’t have too much fun. Wouldn’t want you to be sitting on your ass eating Hot Cheetos.”

Tack finally emerges from the woods, hauling a surprising amount of wood. I wouldn’t have thought that stick kid could carry more than a branch at a time. “Here,” he says, dumping it at my feet. “What’s the plan?”

I gesture to the sand-drawing I’ve made. As I do, a large wave rolls over it, rendering it illegible. “Fuck.”

Tack grins. “Don’t worry, I get the gist. Are we doing a couple of little ones or one large-scale that everyone’s supposed to pack in? Because I get the feeling that’s not going to go over well with this crowd.”

“No one wants to be exposed,” Rose argues. “But I vote for several small shelters.”

“I’m not building nine fucking shelters,” I say. “If we pair, or even triple—”

“Of course we’ll pair. We need body heat. I’ll build one for myself and Min,” Tack says immediately.

“Of course you will,” Rose says. “Casey and Piper will want one together, so that leaves me with Sarah. Hope you don’t strangle me in my sleep. You seem like the type.”

“That problem can be solved if I strangle you right now,” I say sweetly, grabbing a log and tossing it at her. “Get building.”

…

MIN

We’re the last ones to get back. The sun is almost gone, and I’m thirsty and exhausted. The beach is totally transformed, with four sizeable lean-to shelters circling a pile of wood. Sarah is crouched over it, slowly blowing on it.

Tack appears at my side. “She has no fucking idea what she’s doing,” he says. “She won’t even let me near it. Come on, I know how to build a fire.”

“Did anyone find water?” I ask. Derrick and I didn’t see a drop of it on our walk.

Tack’s face sobers, and he shakes his head. “I’ll grab you some, though. That’s our shelter over there. Furthest from the water.”

As soon as Sarah spots me, she abandons her fire and rushes over. “What’d you find?”

“Nothing,” Derrick says glumly behind me. “We’re totally surrounded by ocean. Not a single landmass anywhere nearby.”

Sarah slams a fist into her leg. “Great. Excellent. There goes my idea for boating out of here. Are you sure?”

“Feel free to go have a look for yourself,” I say dully. Tack returns, handing me a water bottle, and I drain half it in one gulp. Sarah’s still looking expectantly at me, so I shrug. “We’re stranded.”

“I thought someone would have come for us by now,” she mutters.

Noting Sarah’s distraction, Tack casually ambles over to the fire and crouches by it for a moment. Within thirty seconds, there’s smoke rising from the pile of wood, and a minute later, a steady, flickering flame covers the small twigs.

“Nicely done,” I tell him when he gets back.

He grins and elbows me as Sarah stands over the fire, frowning at his work, clearly trying to find a problem. “Spent enough time lighting fires in the woods. Bet you Princess Harden’s never even been camping.”

“I have too,” Sarah calls irritably.

Tack turns to me. _“Bat ears,_ ” he mouths exaggeratedly, and I snort a laugh.

“Dinner.” Noah walks around the fire circle, tossing us rations. “Min, good. You’re back. See anything out there?”

“No. We’re totally lost.”

“Fuck.” He shakes his head and hands me an MRE. “That’s unfortunate.”

Tack waits until Noah’s definitely out of earshot before sliding closer and whispering. “That dude is _weird.”_

I can’t help smiling. I might be stranded on an island, but at least I have Tack with me.

There are worse things.

…

JUILLIARD

“Dr. Bolton?”

I take my eyes from the screen in front of me. A man with reddish hair stands in the doorway. “Yes?” I say calmly. “What is it, Dr. Lowell?”

“How long do you think they can survive without water? They’re blowing through their stash pretty quick,” he notes. “Maybe we should have our operative on the ground lead them to—”

“No,” I say firmly. “It’s too early for that. We don’t want to blow our cover. They’ll find it.”

I look back at the screen. A remote camera feed shows a circle, eight kids circling a fire. The ninth, a girl with strawberry blonde hair, stands in the centre, appearing to lecture them all on fire safety.

“Bring up the file for Subject Three,” I say.

The file appears on my monitor. HARDEN, SARAH HESTIA. Senior at Fire Lake High School. 17 years of age. Skilled at computer hacking. Applied to Harvard, Princeton, Yale…

“Keep an eye on her,” I say. “So that she _doesn’t_ blow our cover.”


	3. Day 3

TACK

I’ve never woken up feeling this rested before.

It’s insane. I’m stranded on a fucking island, homicidal Sarah is sleeping twenty feet to my left, I have no food or water security. But there’s something about Min’s quiet, peaceful breathing next to me that put me instantly to sleep.

As much as I want to get home, I don’t miss sharing a trailer with Wendell Russo, and I worry I’ll never get to sleep this close to Min again.

I’m pretty sure my feelings for her aren’t lost on her. Or anyone else. I was a little overeager about building us a shelter together yesterday. But I don’t trust a single other person on this island other than maybe Hector.

I slip out quietly to grab us breakfast. By the time I get back, Min has started to stir, shivering slightly in her thin sweater. I take my hoodie off and offer it to her.

“Tack,” she protests tiredly. “You need this.”

I shrug. “Not really.” It’s a bit cold, but nothing I can’t handle.

She burrows into the hoodie and gives me a tired smile. “You keep doing this,” she says. “Giving me your jacket during Pre-Calculus…”

“Why wouldn’t I? You don’t have time to run to your locker and Fumo always puts you next to the window,” I say. “I don’t need my best friend freezing to death.”

I’m insanely in love with her. I don’t know if she’ll ever feel the same way, but her eyes close, and she dozes against my shoulder for a moment as the sun slowly rises over the ocean, and I think that as long as I can remember this for the rest of my life, it’ll be enough.

Sometimes I wish I could take memories and save them to a hard drive. Things that I know will never happen again.

_Min and I, six months ago, crouching in the bushes. Her hair longer, hanging below her chin then, whipping across her face. Her eyes fixed on the window of the trailer across from mine. “Can you hear anything?” she whispered._

_I strained my ears. All I caught was muffled shouting. “No…”_

_“This is the third time they’ve argued this week. I want to know what it’s about.” Her eyes laughing, sparkling, curious._

_“I love neighbourhood drama,” I agreed. “There’s fuck-all else to do around here, unless you want to take up heroin.”_

_The door suddenly flew open, and Min tugged me further behind the bush. The couple wandered outside, still yelling at each other. I accidentally toppled backward, clanging against the fence._

_Min squeezed her eyes shut. The neighbours stopped arguing. “Did you hear that?” the lady said._

_“Something in the bush,” the old guy grunted._

_“Shit,” Min hissed. “Tack, what do we do?”_

_He was advancing on us. He’d be onto us in seconds. If Wendell heard me getting chewed out for spying…_

_“Just trust me,” I whispered. “Sorry.”_

_And then I kissed her._

_She froze against my mouth, surprised for a moment, but surrendered to it. I couldn’t tell if we’d been spotted yet, so I kept kissing her._

_It felt…real. Like what I’d always wanted. She was kissing me back. Something deep in my brain reminded me that she was just playing along, trying to keep us from being busted for spying._

_“Freaking teenagers,” the guy muttered. I heard his footsteps shuffle away from us._

_I waited until I was sure he was gone to pull back. Min’s grey eyes were wide, locked directly on me, no longer paying attention to the old man. I didn’t know what to say. We stared at each other for what felt like forever. I wanted to apologize again, but somehow it didn’t feel right._

_“Come on,” she finally whispered, then grabbed my hand and sprinted from the bushes, behind a nearby trailer. From there, we escaped through the hole in the back fence and dashed into the woods, hands still locked together, never letting go._

_We never mentioned the kiss again, but everything felt different after that._

Min finally wakes up when an incredibly obnoxious noise starts up outside. “What the fuck is _that_?” she complains. “If it’s not someone coming to rescue us, I don’t care.”

I stick my head outside. Sarah’s somehow found a metal rod and is circling the fire pit, banging it against…another metal rod. The clanging is earsplitting. “Hey!” I thunder, projecting my voice as loud as it can go. “Shut up!”

“Good, you’re up.” Sarah drops the rods into the sand. “We need to get going. If we don’t find water in the next couple of days…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I deadpan. “We all die. Can we vote for who goes out first? I have some suggestions. A numbered list, actually.”

“Let’s move, people!” Derrick’s voice bellows. “We got water to look for!”

Min’s eyes roll. “Go with him,” she says. “You’re probably the most qualified out of everyone here. Find us some water.”

I wrap her in a hug. “Sure thing,” I say. “Because you desperately need a shower.”

She laughs into my shoulder. “We both need to clean up.”

As I join Derrick and Hector at the entrance to the woods, I look behind me. Min is crawling out of our shelter, standing and stretching toward the sun, eyes closed. I can practically hear her joints popping from here.

I’m so irreversibly in love with her.

…

CASEY

I’m pretty sure Sarah is just trying to torture me, and it’s diabolical. She needs to take it down a notch before I take it down for her.

Or maybe I’m just in hell and the devil is laughing at me. Because I have to somehow forage for food in the woods—something I’m hilariously unqualified for—and I have to do it with Noah Livingston.

Maybe Sarah just wants him to die? Because I’m not above murdering Noah in the middle of the woods. He’s always run with a really shitty crowd—Toby Albertsson, for starters, not to mention Ethan Fletcher and the Nolan twins. And he’s been a condescending dickhead since we landed here. If he starts pretending he knows anything useful about mushrooms, I may deck him. It’d probably get me a round of applause.

“See anything useful?” he asks, scanning the trees. “Maybe we should go in a different direction. I don’t think the route you picked is working.”

Okay. I may kick his ass.

_“You’ve got a great kick, Case.”_

_The team was running laps around the field. I was sweating, ready for a long drink of water, but Coach pulled me aside for a moment to talk._

_“Thanks,” I said. Even knowing it wasn’t a compliment, just a fact. And a lead-in to whatever was coming next._

_“You’ve got recruiters sniffing around,” she said. “I didn’t want to tell you, affect your performance, but there was someone from Brown here at the last game. I know you’re applying there. I just wanted to say I think you really have a shot.”_

_“Seriously?” I glanced back at the girls, having completed an entire lap without me now. “That’s great.”_

_“You’re not their only candidate,” she warned. “They’re not going to take more than one kid from Fire Lake, if at all. So if you want in, you’re really going to have to fight for this spot.”_

_Not the only candidate? There were only two other senior girls on the team—my best friends, Lauren and Dakota. Lauren had already applied to Stanford, early decision, and was confident she’d get in._

_I watch Dakota circle the field, muscles shifting under her skin, tied-back hair bobbing in its loose ponytail. She was motivated, I could tell._

_“I believe you can do this,” Coach said. “Give it your all, Casey.”_

“Sure,” I say to Noah instead. “Wherever you think we should go.”

He angles left, and I follow, stewing in my misery. I hate thinking about that day. I wish, more than anything else, that Coach had never told me anything.

“So,” Noah says, as if he can read my mind, but is somehow also illiterate. “You commit anywhere yet?”

“Yeah,” I say quietly. “I’m going to Brown. Full ride.”

“That’s great,” he says. “I’m still picking between University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth.”

“Yeah,” I echo. “It’s great.”

Ten minutes pass in silence. I have no desire to continue the college conversation, and Noah seems to be running out of steam.

Winding our way up the peak, we hear shouting. And…splashing? Noah goes rigid. “Is that water?”

“They found water!” I break into a sprint, dodging branches and nearly tripping over a rock. I’m a strong runner on an open field, but I’m not used to blundering through the woods. A look behind me reveals that Noah is lagging even more than I am. “Come on!”

We reach the edge of a short rock face. Ten feet away, a creek spills over into a small freshwater lake that in turn trickles further down past more giant rocks. Tack is shirtless in the middle, shouting incoherently. Hector sits on a ledge above it, laughing and tossing rocks in the water. As I watch, Derrick goes running, performing a flawless dive into the water, splashing Tack with a giant wave. He surfaces a moment later, and Tack gives him a friendly shove. Derrick barks a laugh and dunks Tack’s head.

“Boys,” I mutter exasperatedly, but Noah’s grinning. He slides down the rock, landing on his ass, and bolts for the edge of the lake. I scoot down after him, praying the boys have found an easier way to reach the water.

Derrick hoots upon seeing Noah, splashing him. “Livingston! Get in here!”

Guess that leaves me with the task of telling everyone else what we found.

“Casey!” Derrick calls, trying to catch my eye. “You coming for a swim?”

“Nah,” I say. “I might sit down for a minute, though.”

Honestly…I could use a rest. I sit down on a rock and untie my sneakers, giving my feet a rest, watching the guys goof off in the water. Even Tack is all laughter, flinging water at Noah like he’s never insulted him in his life.

I have no right to miss Lauren and Dakota, but I still do.

…

PIPER

I don’t really know how to feel about Rose, honestly. She’s easily the tallest girl in the group, plus the rumour is that she knows three types of martial arts, which makes her pretty intimidating. And that’s before you add in her bitchy attitude.

But also, whatever. There are only so many girls on this island, and I don’t know her that well.

“How’s your knee?” I ask. “Seems like it’s better.”

“Yeah.” She blinks at me as if surprised I’d initiate conversation. “Advil helped. And just taking weight off it for a day. I’ll get it checked out once we get home.”

My mood darkens at the thought. “You think we’re ever gonna get home?” I ask, somewhat bitterly.

“I hope so.” Rose completely misreads my tone. “I have a life, you know. My ex, Gray, will totally be waiting for me once I get back. I can’t wait to see him.”

God. It’s bad enough that Min and Tack are a ticking time bomb—they have been for years, but there’s no way this ordeal ends without them getting together. Now I have to hear about Rose’s love life, too? “Great,” I say sarcastically. Just what the world needs. Another happy couple.

I never wanted a high school relationship. I was going to wait until college. Now that might be ruined for me, too.

_Strobe lights._

_I’d never liked those. Tiffani and Jessica started screaming, and it was earsplitting, and I was too drunk, and it was overwhelming._

_“I’m gonna go upstairs,” I shouted over the music. “Be back in a bit.”_

_Melissa Hemby’s house. Her parents were out of town, so she obviously threw a giant party for her seventeenth birthday, which had been the previous week. Most of the seniors and a few juniors were there, excluding the ones who never came to parties. The trailer-park kids, Corbin O’Brien’s crowd, the art group._

_But all the jocks were there—Casey was laughing in a corner with Lauren and Dakota, her hair in its perpetual ponytail. Derrick stood in the corner, ribbing Noah about something, his eyes ever so often shifting over to where the soccer girls were clustered. Toby Albertsson stood next to them, trying vainly to join in the conversation, but when that didn’t work, he started sidling up to clearly uninterested girls._

_Seizing my opportunity when the lights died a bit, I slipped upstairs, hoping no one would notice and think I was hooking up with someone. I definitely wasn’t interested in that. I walked into Melissa’s room, closing the door halfway, and took the opportunity to breathe for a minute. I was definitely drunker than I had planned on being._

_I heard the door creak open. “Sorry, Melissa,” I say, leaning against the window sill. “Just needed a minute.”_

_The door shut. I spun quickly, feeling dizzy. Toby Albertsson stood on the other side of the room, smiling in a way that immediately set off all my alarm bells._

_Music pounded downstairs. “What are you doing here?” I asked, willing my voice not to shake. I had never been afraid of Toby, but there was something in the way he was looking at me…_

“Hey,” Rose says, snapping me out of my dark memory. “Is that an apple tree?”

“Good spotting.” I cut a path through the brush. “Hey, these are raspberries, too!”

“Shit. We didn’t think to bring a bag,” Rose says. “Uh…here.” She quickly pulls her shirt over her head, revealing a grey sports bra. “We can just tie everything we bring back up in this.”

_I thank everything in me that I didn’t bother to change out of my sports bra before the party. If Toby’s going to attack me, he’s going to have to fight._

_But maybe he isn’t. “I’m going back downstairs,” I say firmly, trying to push past him._

_He grabs my wrist. Pushes me backward, sending me stumbling into the wall. “Why?”_

_There’s no alcohol on his breath, I notice, as he gets closer. He’s completely sober. And I’m very, very drunk._

“Piper?” Rose waves a hand in front of my face. “Which one?”

“Huh?”

“Okay, you can take the raspberries,” she says. “I’ll get the apples. Just pile them on the shirt; we’ll figure out how to transport them back afterward.”

We pick in silence. Rose is very clearly favouring her knee, but she does what she can and collects enough apples to last us a couple of days. I pick berry after berry, hypnotized by the process, my mind sinking back into its depths.

_It didn’t occur to me to tell anyone I left or got home safely. How safe was I, really?_

_I knew I was lucky. Nothing had happened past Toby pinning me down and feeling me up. I’d managed to kick him off me and run, but I know if I hadn’t…_

_I never told a soul. Because then I’d be that girl. And for whatever fucking reason, Toby was well-liked. It would be my word versus his, and I never wanted to fucking talk about it again._

_So I went to school on Monday. I pasted new smiley face stickers on my boots. I locked it away and told myself I was better than to let it affect me._

“Piper,” Rose says. “Piper! What is with you?”

“Sorry.” I look down at my red-stained hands. I’ve definitely picked enough. “Okay. It’s getting pretty dark out. We should get these back to the camp before it rains.”

“Are you okay?” Rose asks.

I look at her. Wrap up the berries in her shirt. Give her the Piper Lockwood smile. “Yeah,” I say. “All good.”

…

MIN

Sarah left me in charge of making sure the fire stays lit. I don’t know why she thinks I’m good at this, but I’ve been doing a decent job for most of the day. I peel bark off a branch, tossing it in periodically.

Out of curiosity, I hurl in a piece of driftwood. The fire flickers and beautiful lavender flames mix with the orange ones.

Satisfied that the fire is safe, I kick my shoes off and wander down to the waterline. It’s a cloudy day, and the waves are roiling in the distance. I hope a storm isn’t coming. We’d all have to hide in our shelters.

Unbidden, Tack’s face this morning comes back to me. We’re practically nose-to-nose sitting up in there, and underneath the dirt and sweat encrusting both of us, I could smell that _Tack_ smell on his hoodie. I couldn’t describe it if I tried, but it’s got a hint of salt…

I wonder if he thinks about that fake kiss as much as I do.

I never really thought much about Tack as a romantic option when we were younger. I knew he had a crush on me, but I read so many YA books I’d accepted that as a part of life. In tenth grade, I had a thing for Noah Livingston, but that died pretty quickly when I realized exactly how much of a dick he was.

Tack was never a dick. Tack was consistently supportive and sweet (to me, anyway). Tack was a kid who was tired of getting shoved around by the people in his life and happened to be in love with me.

I didn’t know how deep his feelings ran until that kiss. And, until the kiss, I didn’t know I had feelings at all. I went to bed that night with my chest tight, exhilarated, not knowing what to do with it.

But I never said anything. I worry about ruining our friendship. I worry that we’ll start dating and he’ll realize he never actually wanted that.

I cannot lose Tack. My mom’s a disaster, I’ve never met my dad—Tack is all I have.

I close my eyes as the water laps over my feet. If nothing else, this island is really beautiful, and I don’t get to spend a lot of time on beaches.

A bigger swell washes over my ankles, soaking the legs of my jeans. The waves in the distance are growing bigger. I idly wonder if the tide ever comes in here.

It occurs to me then that I might be about to see it.

I glance frantically around, wading out of the water, as it laps closer to the fire pit, but Sarah is missing. Probably out collecting more firewood. The sky’s getting darker, and I’m worried that I hear thunder.

A giant wave rolls in, crashing over the beach. Droplets land on the fire, making it hiss and spit. I grab my shoes and start dragging our supply pile as far inland as possible. I don’t know for sure if any of the teams have found food or water, so I make quick trips, piling them all in the suitcases and dragging them as far in as I can.

Another huge wave takes the fire. Sarah’s going to kill me.

I race around as thunder _definitely_ sounds in the distance. There’s a clatter as Sarah, emerging from the woods, drops her firewood and runs over to the fire. “Min, what the _fuck?_ ”

I gesture helplessly to the ocean. “What’d you want me to do, pick it up and carry it?” I yell. Rain starts, slowly at first, but then a sudden deluge that instantly soaks us both. Waves threaten closer and closer to our shelters.

“You’re incompetent!” Sarah screams at me, water running down her normally beautiful face, now contorted in anger. “I should have known I couldn’t trust Melinda fucking Wilder to handle one small thing without a big production.”

“Why do you think I can control the weather?” I shout back, water roiling at my ankles. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a soaking wet Noah emerge from the woods, followed by Derrick and Casey. “Maybe you should have been paying attention to the tides!”

Rose and Piper appear from the other direction, Rose carrying what looked like a t-shirt full of fruit and Piper the carcass of a small deer. No one pays attention, circling around my standoff with Sarah.

“What are we supposed to boil water with?” Sarah shrieks. “Wet wood?”

“You picked the fucking fire location!” I yell.

Lightning strikes directly overhead. Rose sprints for shelter, still holding the shirt bag.

“Okay!” Derrick yells, charging forward to stand between me and a furious Sarah. “Dude, it wasn’t Min’s fault. She didn’t know a storm was coming, and there’s not much we can do except take shelter.”

“I’m not living like this,” I announce, lifting my voice so that everyone can hear me. Rain beats across my face and turns my hair into a soaking curtain across my eyes. “I don’t care what hill Sarah thinks she’s dying on, I’m not going to stay here and listen to this shit. I’ll get my own food, keep my own damn fire—which _Tack built for you, by the fucking way—_ and stay the _hell_ away from you, you tyrannical asshole.”

 _Where is Tack, anyway?_ But there’s slight movement at the tree line, and I glance out of the corner of my eye to see him crouching in the bushes, watching.

Sarah doesn’t bother responding to my tirade, turning on her heel and disappearing into her shelter. Tack finally steps out and ducks into ours, and I follow suit, vowing to move it as soon as the storm is over.

Inside, Tack is shivering. I strip off my sopping hoodie, wishing my tank top wasn’t so sweaty and gross. But Tack looks…clean. “Did you find water?” I ask.

He grins. “A whole lake, about ten minutes up that way.” He aims his thumb north. “It's not Fire Lake, but it's something. Tomorrow you can finally clean up in something that isn’t seawater. Hey, did you mean what you said about us splitting off from Sarah? Because I am fully on board.”

“Yes,” I say, and I’m dead serious. “I’m not taking any more of her shit.”

Tack shakes out his wild, curly black hair, scattering droplets everywhere. “God, it is gross out there. My clothes are clean, but also, I went swimming in them.”

I offer him a dry pair of sweatpants I’d been using as a pillow. “Here. Change.”

“Are these yours?”

“I have no idea whose they are,” I say. “They were just in the pile. I think it was Derrick’s.”

“So they’ll be huge,” Tack summarizes. I look away while he struggles out of his wet jeans and puts on the sweatpants. “Damn, these are soft. But what will you sleep on? All our other clothes are wet.”

“My arm, I guess,” I say. “It’s fine for one night. Then we’ll get some supplies and get out of here.”

Tack hands me a dry hoodie. “Sleep on this,” he says.

“Tack, that’s your pillow.”

“Not tonight.” He shoves it under me. “Come on, Min. You should at least be able to get a good sleep.”

Thunder cracks directly above us, and I involuntarily wince. Tack, having removed his wet hoodie, leans in to put his arms around me. “It’s fine,” he whispers. “Built this one extra strong.”

I nod, resting my forehead on his shoulder. His arms tighten around me, and I feel the slightest brush against my hair.

_Did he kiss my head?_

“I won’t let anything hurt you,” he says quietly, but I can sense the steel in his tone.

I think of him screaming my name on the beach. The heartbreaking relief on his face when he finally found me.

This isn’t a passing ship. Tack loves me.

But I’m exhausted, and freaked out, and I can’t do any kind of life-changing conversations right now. So I just lean into him, burying my head in his neck, and let him hold me while the rain pounds overhead.


	4. Day 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shit gets real ladies!!!

NOAH

When I wake up, it’s before dawn. I hear shuffling outside over Derrick’s lawnmower snoring, so I poke my head out of our shelter.

Min and Tack are hauling their entire shelter across the beach. They’re barely within shouting distance by the time they set it down and start patching it up. I glance at the rations pile, noticing a few bottles of water and a few days' worth of MREs missing.

I guess Sarah doesn’t own that stuff. They took their shit and left. The only thing left where they used to be is an indent in the sand.

“Did they go?” someone whispers. I jump at Hector’s voice. He’s leaning on his elbow, trying to peer past me at Min and Tack.

“Yup,” I confirm heavily. “They went.”

“Looks like Casey and Piper did, too,” Hector says, fidgeting with the collar of his shirt.

“What?” My head twists back outside. _Shit._ I’m so focused on Min, I didn’t even notice an entire other shelter gone. “Fuck!”

Derrick mumbles something unintelligible. I ignore him. 

Goddamn it. It’s day four on this island and everything is already falling the fuck apart. _I want to go home._

I don’t, really. I don’t want to be in my giant house, tiptoeing around my father. I don’t want to be back on the fucking basketball court. I don’t want to spend another day avoiding Sarah, hoping she’s not going to make any advances. I don’t want to have to sit behind Min in Spanish 3 again, catching faint whiffs of her ginger and coconut hair, wondering if, in a different universe where Tack didn’t exist, I’d have a chance with her.

She’s not with him, not yet. But anyone with eyes knows that’s going to change soon.

Unless.

I glance outside again. Sarah’s up and about, clearing a dry circle of sand to build a new fire pit. Rose sits on a piece of driftwood, scarfing down an apple. (I’m glad someone found food, since Casey and I had no luck yesterday.) (What I wouldn’t give for a bag of fries, though.) “We should try to fix this,” I say. “Derrick, do you want to talk to Sarah while I handle Min?”

Derrick groans and cracks an eye open. “Why do you care so much, man? Sarah doesn’t want Min and Tack around any more than they want her. Just let it go.”

“I’m worried we won’t survive,” I tell him. “Not without everyone.”

“Fine.” Derrick closes his eyes again. “But I am _not_ responsible for whatever compromise promises you make Min. That is between you and Sarah.”

“That’s fine,” I reassure him. “Your job is just to tell Sarah to calm the fuck down.”

“Oh, so it’s a _suicide_ mission. This oughta go well,” Derrick snorts.

In the distance, I see Min gesticulating wildly, clearly arguing with Tack. As I watch, with interest, they end up bursting into laughter. Min slings a backpack over her shoulder and starts off into the woods. Tack makes no move to go with her.

“I’m gonna go,” I say quickly, slithering out. “See you in a bit.”

“Good luck,” Hector calls. I tie my sneakers quickly, grab a bag full of empty water bottles, and jog for the woods, hoping to intercept Min before she reaches the main path.

I’m lucky. She’s not moving quickly, so she’s only twenty feet ahead when I get there. “Hey, Min! Wait up!”

She gives me a strange look but stops walking. “What?” she asks, pushing limp black hair behind her ears. “You headed up for water?”

I hold up my backpack. “Yup. Good to stock up.”

“Agreed.” She turns to walk forward, leaving me scrambling to catch up.

…

ROSE

I need a change of clothes. I am so fucking gross right now.

About halfway between our camp and what is now—I guess—Min’s, Casey and Piper are on the beach, a pile of sticks between them. Piper holds up a bag of something and mimics shooting something.

_Ah._ Rubber bands. I wonder how she found some.

Derrick ambles out of his shelter, stretching his arms over his head. “My favourite sweatpants are missing,” he complains. “Have you seen Sarah?”

“Did she steal them?” I ask.

“Who fucking knows,” Derrick grumbles. “No, Noah wanted me to talk to her about a truce or something. Thinks Team Min versus Team Sarah isn’t sustainable, or whatever, we’re all gonna go to war and die, all that crap.”

I tilt my head. “Well more than anything, it sounds like someone should hook him up with a shrink when we get back. But no, I don’t know where Sarah went. I can save you time, though. She’s not gonna form any kind of truce with Min.”

“Good enough.” Derrick roots through the clothes. “Do you need a change of clothes, too? Think you can fit in Piper’s stuff?”

I snort. “Yeah, no. She’s four inches shorter and a size two.”

“Women’s sizes make no sense. What size are you?” Derrick looks at me, then digs through the pile of garments. “Maybe I can find something that fits you in here.”

I narrow my eyes at him, but it seems to be a well-meaning question. “Six.”

“Does that mean medium?” Derrick tosses me a red polo shirt and a pair of jeans. “I think these are Hector’s. Have at it.”

They’re actually not a bad fit. I have to dig through for a belt, and I look like I’ve joined a frat, but clean clothes are clean clothes. I wonder if Hector would mind me cutting the sleeves off this thing. At this point, if we ever get back, I’ll just buy him a new fucking shirt. The jeans, though an awkward cut for a girl used to skinny jeans, are at least the right length. “Do I get a backward baseball cap for this ensemble?” I joke.

He looks baffled for a moment. “Is there such a thing as women’s head sizes?”

“No, but there is such a thing as head content, and I can tell you that yours is full of rocks.”

He smiles briefly, but I can tell he’s not really listening to me. He’s staring down the beach at…

I swivel my head. Ah. Piper and Casey, who are forming makeshift slingshots with rocks on the beach. I heard somewhere that Casey has the best smile at Fire Lake High, and I see now as she laughs at a rock splashing into the ocean. She really does have a pretty smile.

I look back at Derrick. He’s still watching them with a slightly wistful expression.

“Which one?” I ask.

He snaps to attention. “What?”

I tip my head toward Piper and Casey. “Which one are you mooning over? Come on, Derrick. You’re not subtle.”

“Nuh-uh.” He shakes his head. “I know all about the girl code. You can’t fool me. Whatever I say, you’re gonna go running down the beach to tell them. I’m not mooning over anybody.”

I look at the pair on the beach, then back at Derrick. “It’s Casey.”

He buries his face in his hands. “Damn it.”

Casey and Piper still haven’t so much as glanced at us. “You’re gonna need to try harder if you want her attention,” I advise. “It’s an unorthodox move, but I have an idea.

He lifts his head. “I’m open to any and all suggestions,” he says. “Seriously. Anything.”

I quickly survey the area to make sure Sarah isn’t lurking nearby. “Switch camps.”

“That’s the literal opposite of what Noah told me to do,” Derrick says. “But it seems kind of sudden…should I stage a fight with you first or something?”

“I guarantee Sarah will give you a reason,” I say, spotting her out of the corner of my eye, “in three, two, one…”

Sarah steps into the circle and fixes Derrick with an icy stare. “I need you to wash all the used clothes,” she instructs, shoving a pile at him. “Then hang them up to dry.”

I shelve a smirk as Derrick drops them in the sand. “Yeah, I’ll pass,” he says. “See you in hell, Sarah.”

Doesn’t even grab his shit. Just _bounces._

Sarah turns to me, but I shake my head and point to my knee. “I went on a two-mile hike yesterday. My leg needs a rest.”

“Useless,” she snaps. “And a waste of an Advil, to boot. Where the fuck is Noah? Where is _anybody_ when I need them? Fine. You can all wash your own clothes.”

She stalks off to our shelter.

My knee actually feels fine, but she doesn’t need to know that. With Sarah, less is always better.

…

MIN

It’s not totally clear why Noah followed me into the woods, but I know damn well it’s not for water.

They don’t even have anything to boil it in. Since it’s clear and sunny, Tack volunteered to swim out to the plane wreckage for a look around, but if he can’t find anything, we found a random pot buried in the sand.

It seems really fucking weird that that’s just…here. In good condition, too. But I’m not looking gift horses in the mouth.

I wasn’t thrilled about Tack going for a swim all by himself, especially that far out. But he squeezed my hand and reassured me it was going to be okay, and I believed him.

I’m starting to notice little differences that I never picked up on before. The bravado he used to wear like armour is long gone, replaced by a genuine, confident sense of himself. He’s still short and skinny, a tangle of limbs and inky hair, all cheekbones and blue eyes, but he just seems…older.

It’s a version of Tack I really, really like.

I’ve never interacted with Noah much at school, but this is a version of him I definitely do _not_ like. He’s overly cheerful, smiling widely at me whenever I look back to check if he’s still there. I wish I had my phone and a pair of earbuds.

I’m also just glad I backed up my phone before I left. I knew there was a chance something might happen to it.

“So.” Noah finally speaks up. “You thinking about schools? Picked anywhere yet?”

Tack and I already committed to Boise State, but I’m not telling him that. “Nope.”

He tries a different route. “You guys got a plan? To sustain yourselves, I mean? I’m sure you’ll be good, but it’s always a smart idea to be—”

I spin, letting him almost collide with me. “Noah, what do you want?” I demand, letting my bag drop to my feet.

“Who says I—”

“Out with it.”

He sighs. “Min…this two-group thing isn’t good,” he says. “I just don’t see this working out as a long-term solution. It’s not safe. People could die.” I roll my eyes. “I’m _serious,_ Min. We should all be sticking together through this.”

“I agree. But Sarah’s a dictator, and I’m not putting up with her shit.” I lift the bag over my shoulder and start walking again. “Anything else?”

He stays silent all the way to the lake. _Good._

Once we’re there, I wash the clothes first. Bless whoever brought four bars of soap and two bottles of shampoo. Ignoring Noah’s presence, I strip down to my underwear and bra and plunge into the lake.

“We’re on shampoo rations,” Noah warns. I grit my teeth and try not to leap out of the lake and punch him.

When I’m clean, I climb up to the creek and fill the bottles. Noah’s still watching me from a rock, not having moved at all.

“Just reconsider,” he pleads once. “I’ll talk to Sarah, get her to ease up—”

“ _No._ ” I glare at him. “Unless you have something else to say, get some water, or go home.”

“If—”

“Something _not related to Sarah,”_ I emphasize.

He’s quiet as I lace up my sneakers and pack everything into my bag. Then I start off back down the trail to camp.

“Are you dating Tack?” he blurts.

I turn. “What?”

“You and Tack,” he says. “Are you two together?”

Technically… “No.”

“Okay,” he says. “I was just wondering.” He hesitates, like he’s gearing up to say something else.

_God, is he really about to shoot his shot right now? While we're in the middle of the woods, stranded on a fucking island? What a dick._

“I should get back,” I say quickly. “See you later, Noah.”

He looks disappointed. “Bye.”

Then I get out of there as fast as my legs can carry me.

…

CASEY

Piper has been much better company than I ever expected. I never really ran with her crowd; she’s friends with some really low-IQ people who were never nice to me. But Piper herself is funny and smart, and I’m genuinely enjoying getting to know her.

“Her _expression,_ ” Piper laughs as we gather sticks in the woods. “Noah knows she doesn’t want anything to do with him, right? Also, is he _blind?_ He knows she’s into someone else, right?”

“Has to be.” No one sane could miss the obvious tension between Min and Tack. “Hey, when do you think that’s gonna happen? Place your bets.”

“Hmmm,” Piper says, tilting her head. Her braid slides off her shoulder and tumbles down her back. “Can’t be more than five days, now that they’re sharing a shelter.”

“They’re both very stubborn people, though. I give it more like ten.”

Piper’s smile falters a bit. “Assuming we’re not rescued by then.”

“Yeah,” I say quietly. “That.”

I hold a bush aside for Piper as we climb out of the trees and head down to the beach with our collection of sticks and rocks.

“Wish we had a knife,” Piper says as we drop our supplies down in the sand. “We could whittle these into some wicked spears. Maybe go fishing. I’d kill for some sushi right now.”

I shudder. “Gross. Definitely not my thing.”

“You probably drink protein shakes for breakfast,” Piper says, digging through our pile to find the sturdiest limb. “Vegetables and, like, bean salads…orange juice and eight giant bottles of water a day…”

I plant one of the sticks in the ground and wrap a rubber band around it. “Right, sure. As if I don't go devour a Big Mac and two bags of fries after every important game. I leave the healthy diet stuff to Lauren.”

“Lauren’s kind of a partier, isn’t she?” Piper says absently, shooting a pebble into the ocean. “Dakota, too. And I feel like you used to be.”

I shrug. “I wasn’t a partier. I just happened to go to some. Only way to keep any kind of a decent reputation in that hell of a school.” I look up at her. “You had it easier. Your friends were already popular.”

Piper’s expression darkens. “I don’t go to those parties anymore.”

I vaguely remember hearing a rumour Toby had been spreading around, that he made out with Piper at Melissa Hemby’s birthday party. No one actually believed it, Toby being Toby. He's gross. People have standards. 

Now I wonder if something actually did happen.

I don’t press the topic though, instead testing our slingshot. I manage to fling a rock about twenty feet and shoot Piper a triumphant smile.

“What are you guys up to?” a voice calls behind us.

Derrick Morris ambles up to our little weaponry setup, clearly having come from our camp. “What were you doing over there?” I demand, craning my neck to see if he’s destroyed anything in our camp. “Did you set fire to something? Because I will set fire to you, Derrick.”

“Whoa, no. Of course not.” Derrick settles in the sand next to me, lifting his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I just got sick of Sarah’s shit, so I’m joining forces. Tack helped me bring my stuff over.”

Sure enough, there’s a new little A-frame shelter ten feet away from Min and Tack’s. “Oh.” Not knowing what to say now, I awkwardly clap Derrick on the shoulder. “Well. Welcome to the team, then.”

“Noah’s probably going to kill me,” Derrick says lightly. “He went after Min today to try to pursue a truce, or whatever. Like she’s going to give him the time of day.”

A fucking truce, right. Piper and I look at each other and burst into giggles. "That's not the only thing he was trying to pursue," Piper cracks.

“What?” Derrick asks.

I clear my throat, trying to keep a straight face. “We saw them in the woods, actually. Noah was very unsubtly trying to figure out whether Min was single.”

Derrick’s face is priceless. “Does he not—is he completely— _what?_ He knows Tack exists, right? How well does he think this is going to go over?”

I can’t help laughing again. “We’re placing bets, actually,” I say. “How long do you think Min and Tack will take to sort their shit out?”

“Huh. Who says they’re not already secretly dating?” Derrick offers. “Or maybe not even secretly. He’s clearly won her over. What would they be waiting for, at this point?”

He looks slightly wistful. Piper elbows him. “Thinking of asking Tack for dating tips?” she teases. “What’s he going to say? ‘Grow up next to her and spend seventeen years pining’?”

“It’d just be nice to know what I’m doing.” Derrick avoids my eyes. “Anyway, what _are_ you guys up to? Is this a slingshot?”

“Yeah,” Piper says. “We’re just messing around with weapon ideas. Casey thought we should try to make some of these into spears, but the slingshot is just for fun.”

A slightly devious grin spreads across Derrick's face. “I have an idea,” he says. “If you guys want to have more fun.”

Piper looks suspicious. “What kind of more fun?”

…

TACK

Maybe the water isn’t all that bad. I managed to track down a waterlogged black backpack with a name tag reading C. BEAM. FIRE LAKE, IDAHO, and a couple dozen more MREs. Definitely enough to feed us for a while longer.

It’s getting pretty dark by the time I get close to shore. I can see a small figure crouching in front of a fire, clothes drying on top of shelters. Definitely Min. I picture her smile when she finally spots me, helping me drag the stuff in, unpack it by the fire while I dry off…

What I really want is for her to kiss me. But I’m never going to ask her for that. I’ll stay silent forever if that’s what she wants.

But lately…I don’t know.

Last night, she crawled into my lap and rested her head on my shoulder. We’ve always been physically comfortable with each other, but that felt different.

Twin fires burn on the beach as I roll closer. Separate camps, separate ideals. I angle towards the second one, kicking faster. It’s almost fully dark out now—the sun sets fast here—and I hope I can make it to shore while there’s still some visibility.

_Hold on._ There’s a third fire, smaller, between the other two. I hear laughter echoing from the third, and can just barely make out three people gathered around it. _Piper, Casey…Derrick?_

Yeah, that’s definitely his booming laugh. I stop kicking and let myself drift toward the shore, curious.

“Okay.” Derrick’s voice carries across the water. “You ready for this one? It’s gonna burn fast, so we have to be quick.”

Casey sounds energized. “Do it. Maybe we can hit Sarah’s camp,” she laughs. “That’d solve all our problems.”

“Or just make her angrier.” Piper tosses her braid. I float a couple dozen feet offshore, fascinated. “Which would also be fun. Okay. Light the paper.”

Derrick holds what looks like a ball of crumpled paper close to the fire. As it alights, he quickly shoves it into what looks like a slingshot. “Fire!”

A figure steps out of the woods just as the paper lands harmlessly in the sand and devours itself, becoming nothing but ash.

“Damn,” Casey says. “I can shoot it further. Give me another one.”

I start to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Reloading.” Derrick crumples up more paper and dips it in the fire. “Okay, shoot!”

I watch it happen in what feels like slow motion.

Casey releases the band. The ball arches up and over the beach, sailing directly into a collision course with…

“FUCK!” Noah shouts as the paper ball brushes his arm. I swear I hear a sizzle as he glares at the slingshotters. “Fucking _Tack!_ ”

_What the fuck?_ I start kicking for shore again but freeze as he whips something from his pocket and throws it directly at the trio in front of the fire.

I watch in horror as the blade of a knife lodges directly into Piper’s throat.

There’s dead silence for thirty seconds as Piper’s body hits the sand. I can’t move, can’t breathe.

Then Casey screams.

“PIPER!” I shout, struggling for land. Min jumps up from her fire and dashes over. From the other side, I see Rose and Hector sprinting toward the slingshot fire. Abandoning the backpack and food on the beach, I dash over to Piper. She’s definitely dead, eyes wide open and glassy, a shocked expression frozen on her features.

Casey’s screaming incoherently, Derrick holding her back as she lunges for Noah, who’s staring at me, shocked. “I thought…” he stammers. “How are you…”

“You KILLED HER!” Casey shrieks, tears running down her face. “What is WRONG WITH YOU? I’LL KILL YOU!” She struggles against Derrick, who’s talking quietly in her ear.

Min, her face a stone mask, stands up and walks over to Noah. He doesn’t make a move to defend himself as she punches him directly in the nose.

Despite everything, I’m proud. I taught her how to do that.

“I thought it was Tack,” Noah stammers, holding his nose as blood pours down his lips. “I wasn’t aiming for Piper, I was trying to cut down that fucking slingshot.” It’s only then that I notice the burn running down his arm. Good.

“You bastard,” Min hisses, blood staining her knuckles. “And you’ve had a fucking _knife_ this whole time? Even if it was Tack, you could have just as easily killed him.”

The shock of that hits me for the first time. Noah was perfectly comfortable putting my life in danger.

“Tack is _fine,_ ” Casey spits. “He’s right fucking there. You _killed Piper._ You killed someone, Noah. I’m going to _claw your fucking eyes out._ ”

I don’t know what to say. Guilt overwhelms me. Piper could be alive right now if I had been the one behind that slingshot.

Min crosses to me and wraps me in a hug, and it’s only then that I realize how cold I am. I start shivering in her arms, trying desperately to hold back tears.

“Come on,” she says quietly. “You need dry clothes.”

…

MIN

Derrick removes the knife from Piper’s throat and sticks it in the sand outside his shelter.

Then we lift Piper and carry her as far from our encampment as we possibly can. Sarah doesn’t join us, and neither does Noah.

We set her silently down in the sand while we dig a hole as deep as we can get it. The moon hangs overhead, casting a cold light over Piper’s body.

The gaping wound in her neck is awful. Silent tears slide down Tack’s face as we work. Casey sobs quietly into Derrick’s shoulder.

We bury her in the sand.

Tack squeezes my hand while Hector speaks over her grave. Rose closes her eyes, looking agonized.

I didn’t know Piper well. But meeting Casey’s red eyes across Piper’s grave, I know Noah will not be let off the hook for this.

He’s going to pay.


End file.
